How Old?

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From what I've heard and from published research, there "appears" to be about 10-14 years old as the limit for usual "American" and "Continental" breeds (e.g., angus, simmental, hereford, and such). Texas Longhorns EASILY breed into their late teens, some even into mid-twenties, have 99.7% unassisted calving (University research studies), usually have a 45-65 lb. calf every year with easy, fast calving, with very few reports of any sick cows or calves afterwards. More calves, fewer vet bills, better mothering, easier calving, longer lived = more profits for the producer and fewer sleepless nights. :)

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> How old are most breeds when they
> quit having calves?

it is not that they quit, they begin to not be able to raise as good a calf because of their teeth getting wore out and their udder getting weak. at about ten - twelve years old you have to start looking them over. some keep going and some need to be culled.

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> it is not that they quit, they
> begin to not be able to raise as
> good a calf because of their teeth
> getting wore out and their udder
> getting weak. at about ten -
> twelve years old you have to start
> looking them over. some keep going
> and some need to be culled. Is this most continental breeds or certain ones?

The reason i was wondering is b/c i have longhorns and i know about their longevity and i was thinking about doing some cross breeded and was just curious about longevity of other breeds.



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Why would you want to raise an animal that gets docked 20cents hot weight and has a very poor muscle to bone ratio. Besides the novelty of having the long horns. With the lack of real management I see on this board very few of you would last 1 week in the real cattle country of the northern plains.

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People that breed and raise Longhorns rarely take them to the sale barn. This is a growing nitch market area (for several decades) that is NOT into raising commercial beef. There are a lot of Longhorns that are very beefy looking and have excellent conformation. The days of the "wild west" maverick wild and wooly gut sticking longhorns are over. It is also a high profit market for the breeders raising registered stock and emphasizine pedigrees and horn length. There are numerous markets for such cattle. Longhorn breeders usually sell via private treaty and "per each"! We do not sell by the pound! When you can get between $1,500 and $20,000 (or more) for a quality animal, .20 cents "hit" at the sale barn is irrelevant. We and other breeders have calves that hit the ground worth anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. Rarely will you see a quality Longhorn new calf selling for under $500. The highest priced Longhorn sold in 2002 was a mature cow which sold at a special sale in Texas for $59,000. YES! Am sure I'll get some hits and unkind remarks about all of these prices; however, people DO buy these animals and DO pay excellent prices for quality stock. I could also draw the comparison between an average compact car selling for $15,000 and a Rolls selling for $300,000...some people buy cars for ego trips and $1 million plus houses too. Every breeder, buyer, etc. has their own program and needs. Another extreme example is that there was a top Longhorn bull sold a number of years ago in syndication for $1 million. Haven't seen any angus or herefords doing that...lol. Peace to all and no offense to anyone intended. Let's just be tolerant, nice and kind to other people out there...all of us will probably sleep better at night. :)
 
We raise our longhorns for beef. I know that we do not have the marbling of other breeds or the amount of carcass but Texas Longhorns ARE the number ONE recommended beef for a heart patient. And many people have made great strides to get more meat on their animals. Although you will not see this if you pick up a Longhorn magazine, because most people that raise longhorns do raise them as a novelty breed for HORNS ONLY! Which i think is the worst thing for the Longhorn breed. And people that raise for a novelty breed usually have the money to advertise and dominate the Longhorn advertisements.

However, if you cross a longhorn cow with a solid colored, polled bull you are nearly guaranteed a solid colored, polled calf. I dont know if you consider Iowa part of the northern plains, but i know a breeder that recently sold 30+ longhorn cross calves to a commmercial breeder for $1.30/lbs. and straight longhorns for $1.05/lbs. So, i guess longhorns and longhorn crosses can bring decent money. And add such things as: longevity, docility, ease of calving, disease resistance and other things.

Personnally i dont care about the length of the horns, but i do like them, and i think that if you go to a TLBAA sanctioned show you will see some fine animals, that are being bred for beef. If you go to an ITLA sanctioned show you will see animals bred for horn.



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There is no way in hell that that guy in Iowa will ever get his money back on those calves. He got taken. And about the 1 million dollar longhorn WHY in the hell would anyone pay so much for a joke breed of cattle? Maybe the reason that the Hereford and Angus cattle never bring that much is that their breeders aren't quite so ignorant.

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All I will say here is that no one is right and no one is wrong. We all have our needs, purposes, and programs. I personally think that it is very inappropriate and all for anyone on this or other board to slam the programs and interests of other cattle people. People need to be more tolerant of others and all...some opinions and comments are best kept to oneself and/or not let off your own property or premises.... Have a good day!
 
1. I thought beefalo was the recommended beef for heart patients?

2. I've seen Longhorn breeders on other sites complaining that increasing the "beef" on Longhorns hurts the calving ease they are so proud of. Have you experienced that?

3. I'd have to question your claim that breeding a Longhorn cow to a solid colored bull will "nearly guarantee" a solid colored calf. Our neighbor is at least three generations into using solid colored bulls on his cow herd. He still will get a few spotted calves out of his Longhorn-influenced cows, even though they are black or black baldies. He claims he has to sell those separate from the solid black calves or the buyers will discount the whole lot.

I'm not bashing Longhorns, there is a market for everything and those that identify their best market can do well. We see that in everything from Laura's Lean Beef to CAB.

We raise our longhorns for beef. I
> know that we do not have the
> marbling of other breeds or the
> amount of carcass but Texas
> Longhorns ARE the number ONE
> recommended beef for a heart
> patient. And many people have made
> great strides to get more meat on
> their animals. Although you will
> not see this if you pick up a
> Longhorn magazine, because most
> people that raise longhorns do
> raise them as a novelty breed for
> HORNS ONLY! Which i think is the
> worst thing for the Longhorn
> breed. And people that raise for a
> novelty breed usually have the
> money to advertise and dominate
> the Longhorn advertisements.

> However, if you cross a longhorn
> cow with a solid colored, polled
> bull you are nearly guaranteed a
> solid colored, polled calf. I dont
> know if you consider Iowa part of
> the northern plains, but i know a
> breeder that recently sold 30+
> longhorn cross calves to a
> commmercial breeder for $1.30/lbs.
> and straight longhorns for
> $1.05/lbs. So, i guess longhorns
> and longhorn crosses can bring
> decent money. And add such things
> as: longevity, docility, ease of
> calving, disease resistance and
> other things.

> Personnally i dont care about the
> length of the horns, but i do like
> them, and i think that if you go
> to a TLBAA sanctioned show you
> will see some fine animals, that
> are being bred for beef. If you go
> to an ITLA sanctioned show you
> will see animals bred for horn.



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> There is no way in hell that that
> guy in Iowa will ever get his
> money back on those calves. He got
> taken. And about the 1 million
> dollar longhorn WHY in the hell
> would anyone pay so much for a
> joke breed of cattle? Maybe the
> reason that the Hereford and Angus
> cattle never bring that much is
> that their breeders aren't quite
> so ignorant.

In response to the $1 million longhorn: this longhorn was syndicated. Not one individual paid a million dollars. Many breeders paid for the right to this bulls breeding services and semen, because he was producing calves that were heads and shoulders above the rest of the cattle at the time.

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> 1. I thought beefalo was the
> recommended beef for heart
> patients?

> 2. I've seen Longhorn breeders on
> other sites complaining that
> increasing the "beef" on
> Longhorns hurts the calving ease
> they are so proud of. Have you
> experienced that?

> 3. I'd have to question your claim
> that breeding a Longhorn cow to a
> solid colored bull will
> "nearly guarantee" a
> solid colored calf. Our neighbor
> is at least three generations into
> using solid colored bulls on his
> cow herd. He still will get a few
> spotted calves out of his
> Longhorn-influenced cows, even
> though they are black or black
> baldies. He claims he has to sell
> those separate from the solid
> black calves or the buyers will
> discount the whole lot.

> I'm not bashing Longhorns, there
> is a market for everything and
> those that identify their best
> market can do well. We see that in
> everything from Laura's Lean Beef
> to CAB.

1. I have only heard about Longhorns and not Beefalo. After my Grandpa had a heart attack they told him about Longhorn Beef.

2. We have always raised longhorns to get the most beef, not fat like some people, out of them as possible. We have never had to pull a calf, and on avg. we have 2 calfves die a year out of 75 cows.

3. From our experience we found that solid red bulls work better than black bulls. This is because red is a dominant color in the longhorns. But there are exceptions to all things.

Thanks for not bashing us longhorn folks or our longhorns.

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> 1. I thought beefalo was the recommended beef for heart patients?

...almost any lean meat will be good for heart patients

> 2. I've seen Longhorn breeders on other sites complaining that increasing the "beef" on Longhorns hurts the calving ease they are so proud of. Have you experienced that?

...I have seen (in my Dad's farm) Longhorn(cow)-Charolais(bull) crosses and as I understood the cows didn't have any calving problems

> 3. I'd have to question your claim that breeding a Longhorn cow to a solid colored bull will "nearly guarantee" a solid colored calf. Our neighbor is at least three generations into using solid colored bulls on his cow herd. He still will get a few spotted calves out of his Longhorn-influenced cows, even though they are black or black baldies. He claims he has to sell those separate from the solid black calves or the buyers will discount the whole lot.

...You will not have a color guarantee



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10 - 15 years, even though I have some 1/2 bloods Continental- Nelore and Gyr cows that where calving at 16 yrs of age (last year) I just sold them

> How old are most breeds when they
> quit having calves?



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> 10 - 15 years, even though I have
> some 1/2 bloods Continental-
> Nelore and Gyr cows that where
> calving at 16 yrs of age (last
> year) I just sold them

Thank You!



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I know who I will not buy my cattle from for my cross breeding program! Ignorance seems to be coming out in prejudices on this board.

There are different cattle for different reasons. There is a lady down the street from me who raises Herefords because she thinks they are cute. She only has about one calf a year and rarely sells one. To her they are pets. To many longhorn owners the same is true. In my experience, people will pay more money for pets than they will for their dinner. How many people do you know that will pay the vet $200 to nurse Fluffy back from an illness and stop at Wendy's on the way home to eat? In my part of the country (North Central Texas) there are a lot of these people. They buy my longhorns for their ag exemption, to feed by hand, to brag to their suburban friends, and so on. They pay more for my cattle for those reasons alone and I cater my business towards these people. By the way, I make more money than most beef producers in my area that have heards of the same size as mine.

Let's use this board for information sharing and gathering and not personal bashing! There is a lot we can learn form each other regardless of the breed we raise.

Brian.



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Ryan, I'm glad to hear than red bulls make better crosses with longhorns than black in your herd. I've not heard of many people cross-breeding.

I was just considering the genetics of color. Red is recessive and you have to have both the bull and dam throw the recessive red gene in order to produce a red calf. Unfortunately with longhorns, there are a variety of other genes that control spotting and so forth that come into the mix. It is true, though, that most longhorns carry at least one recessive red gene in the mix. This is probably why you are having a good success at producing red. If you get a red longhorn, you are guaranteed to throw a red gene and if you have a red bull, the same happens. A red calf will be produced every time.

We are looking at acquiring an angus bull to use in a cross-breeding program. I was planning on trying to find a homozygous black bull that would throw black each time. That should take care of the color variations in almost all cases but won't do anything, to my knowledge, about spotting and so forth. After further thought, I may try red instead. Solid red longhorns seems to sell a little cheaper. Might be a good market here. ???? Sounds like I need to do more research.

Brian.



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> ...I have seen (in my Dad's farm)
> Longhorn(cow)-Charolais(bull)
> crosses and as I understood the
> cows didn't have any calving
> problems

It is true that longhorn crosses produce most of the traits that a longhorn brings to the gentic pool such as calving ease.

> ...You will not have a color
> guarantee

The spotting is not caused by the color gene. The longhorn passes on a gene in the DNA chain that controls spotting and it may come into play in several generations down the lineage from the parent. The best thing you can do is use longhorn stock that is solid colored for several generations back.

Brian.



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If you're looking to sell Longhorns to people who want them for their front yard display, seems to me you'd do better to stay with the spots. We get over to the Wildlife Refuge Longhorn sale every few years. The solid colored animals don't sell nearly as well as those spotted ones.

Ryan, I'm glad to hear than red
> bulls make better crosses with
> longhorns than black in your herd.
> I've not heard of many people
> cross-breeding.

> I was just considering the
> genetics of color. Red is
> recessive and you have to have
> both the bull and dam throw the
> recessive red gene in order to
> produce a red calf. Unfortunately
> with longhorns, there are a
> variety of other genes that
> control spotting and so forth that
> come into the mix. It is true,
> though, that most longhorns carry
> at least one recessive red gene in
> the mix. This is probably why you
> are having a good success at
> producing red. If you get a red
> longhorn, you are guaranteed to
> throw a red gene and if you have a
> red bull, the same happens. A red
> calf will be produced every time.

> We are looking at acquiring an
> angus bull to use in a
> cross-breeding program. I was
> planning on trying to find a
> homozygous black bull that would
> throw black each time. That should
> take care of the color variations
> in almost all cases but won't do
> anything, to my knowledge, about
> spotting and so forth. After
> further thought, I may try red
> instead. Solid red longhorns seems
> to sell a little cheaper. Might be
> a good market here. ???? Sounds
> like I need to do more research.

> Brian.
 
A cow is worth however much someone is going to pay for it. This post isn't just directed to R.R. Why is everyone bashing everyone and their favorite breed? I'm a teen who's getting my own herd put together. I come to this board every day to read the advice posted here. No one comes here to read insults, so let's stop posting them. Let's pretend that we're adults.



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